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(/I *^^ death of George F. Edmunds at Pasa- 
V I y dena, California, February 27, 1919 ended 
i^ the career of the man who may be ranked, 
when all circum,stances are considered, as the most 
distinguished of the sons whom Vermont has sent 
directly into the public service of the Nation. Dur- 
ing his long and useful life, covering more than 
ninety-one years, he saw a wonderful transforma- 
tion in his own country and in the world. When he 
was born the area of the United States included 
the region north of Texas and east of the Rocky 
Mountains, the title to Oregon Territory not having 
been established. There were only two States west 
of the Mississippi River, Louisiana and Missouri. 
During the life of Senator Edmunds, as Vermonters 
had been accustomed to call him for more than fifty 
years, the number of States had increased from 
twenty-three to forty-eight, and the population of 
our country from 4,000,000 to more than 100,000,000. 
Great cities like Chicago, St. Louis and San Fran- 
cisco had grown from, nothing during his lifetime. 
When he was born John Quincy Adams was Presi- 
dent of the United States and Ezra Butler was 
Governor of Vermont. The span of his life, there- 
fore, included the administrations of twenty-two of 
the twenty-seven Presidents of the United States 

Page Seven 



and forty-eight of the fifty-seven Governors of 
Vermont. Nearly all of the great inventions that 
are now a part of our daily life, the steamboat 
excepted, have been discovered since his birth, and 
many volumes would be required to record the 
social, industrial and political transformations of the 
world during that period. 

George Franklin Edmunds was born in Rich- 
mond, Vermont, February 1, 1828. Both his 
maternal and paternal grandparents were Rhode 
Island Quakers, or Friends, the former belonging 
to the Orthodox faith and the latter to the Hick- 
site denomination. In 1826 his parents removed 
from the Berkshires, Massachusetts, to Richmond, 
and purchased a large farm on the Winooski River, 
about two miles above the village, where their son 
George was born. The only children in the family 
were this son and an older sister, who afterward 
became Mrs. A. B. Maynard. The local district 
school was on this farm, and there Mr. Edmunds 
began his education at a very early age. He grew 
up a slender boy, lacking the health and strength 
of the average country lad. He was taught the 
various things that a boy on a farm should know, 
his parents carefully guarding his precarious health. 
His sports were hunting, trout fishing, riding farm 
horses and breaking colts, and altogether his 
boyhood was a happy one. About the year 1840 
the farm was sold and the family moved to the 

Page Eight 



village, where, with his sister, George attended a 
select school taught by a capable man. A year or 
two later he was sent to Burlington to attend an 
academy in preparation for college. In a few weeks 
his health became impaired and a long illness 
followed, necessitating the abandonment of a college 
career. He had lessons in Latin and French from 
his brother-in-law, A. B. Maynard, a college man, 
and studied for one winter in a private school for 
boys at Troy, N. Y. Early in the summer of 1845 
he returned home, glad, as he said, "to be with the 
family, the mountains and neighborhood friends." 
In a letter written a few years ago, Mr. Edmunds 
said of this period : "That summer I drove with one 
horse and a Concord wagon to the White Mountains, 
having previously, with other boys, climbed Camel's 
Hump and Mansfield, and thus taken a chronic 
mountain fever which has lasted me to this day, 
carrying my family and myself from our own Green 
Mountains to the white peaks of Switzerland and 
northern Italy, and the Rocky and Coast Mountains 
of the Pacific." 

Mr. Edmunds began the study of law in the 
office of his brother-in-law, but being threatened 
with tuberculosis, he spent the winter of 1845-46 
in Washington, for the benefit of his health. He 
continued his studies there and had access to the 
Law Library of the United States Supreme Court. 
It was his privilege to hear cases argued by some 

Page Nine 



of the great leaders of the American Bar (a dis- 
tinction which he was himself to win in later years), 
among them being arguments by Daniel Webster, 
Rufus Choate and John Van Buren, in the famous 
"Passenger Case." In a letter to the writer of 
this article Mr. Edmunds related the following 
incident of this winter in Washington: "On one 
occasion, while reading in the Law Library, I had 
what was, to my youthful imiagination, the greatest 
honor of my life, in showing to Mr. Webster and 
Mr. Van Buren, who came into the Library where 
I was sitting reading "Stephens' Pleadings," a 
passage in the book settling a point of law they 
were disputing in their conversation. With some 
trepidation, and an apology, I handed the book to 
Mr. Webster, who, having read the paragraph, 
smiled, rose and said to me in his deep, soft tones, 
'Young man, I thank you'." 

In the spring of 1846 he returned home and 
continued his law studies with Mr. Maynard until 
1848, when he went to Burlington to be a student 
clerk in the law office of David A. Smalley and Ed- 
ward J. Phelps, both eminent lawyers. Early in the 
year 1849 Mr. Edmunds was admitted to the Bar and 
returned to Richmond to become a partner of his 
brother-in-law. The following year he removed to 
Burlington and became the partner of Charles D. 
Kasson, who died within a year. He speedily built 
up a lucrative practice at a time when the Burling- 

Page Ten 



ton Bar included such eminent men as David A. 
Smalley, Edward J. Phelps, Levi Underwood and 
L. E. Chittenden. 

In 1852 he married Susan Marsh Lyman, 
daughter of Wyllys Lyman, and a niece of George 
P. Marsh, then United States Minister to Turkey. 
Mrs. Edmunds was a woman of great refinement 
and intelligence, and during their married life of 
more than sixty years, Mr. Edmunds consulted her 
in all matters of importance, relying upon her rare 
judgment and depending largely upon her advice. 
Two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Edmunds, 
one of whom. Miss Mary, is now living at Pasadena, 
California. Miss Julia died in 1882. Mrs. Edmunds 
died August 24, 1916. 

Beqinning of His Public Career 

Mr. Edmunds' first public service was the 
performance of the duties of Moderator of the 
Burlington town meeting in March, 1854. Later 
that year he was elected as Representative from 
Burlington to the State Legislature, being the can- 
didate of the younger element in local politics. This 
office, and all that he subsequently held, came with- 
out any seeking on his part, either directly or 
indirectly. State elections were then held annually, 
and Mr. Edmunds was re-elected to the House each 
year from 1855 to 1859. In 1855 he was made 

Page Eleven 



chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and in 1857, 
1858 and 1859 he was elected Speaker. 

In 1861-62 he served in the State Senate, being 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee and President 
pro tempore of the Senate. As a member of the 
Legislature he won distinction as a painstaking 
and careful legislator, who gave diligent attention 
to every detail of business. 

During the Civil War an old shoemaker in 
Jericho, whose name was similar to that of a man 
who had expressed his sympathy for the Southern 
cause, was arrested by the United States Marshal 
and confined in the Chittenden County jail. Mr. 
Edmunds acted as counsel for the prisoner and 
applied to Judge Smalley of the United States 
District Court for a writ of habeas corpus, which 
he obtained, directing the Marshal to produce the 
prisoner in court. The IVIarshal was instructed 
from Washington to refuse to execute the writ, to 
hold the prisoner, and to send the name of the 
attorney to Washington. When the Legislature 
convened Mr. Edmunds, then a member of the State 
Senate, introduced a resolution asking an investi- 
gation of the imprisonment of this harmless and 
innocent old man. This action of Mr. Edmunds 
was furiously denounced and the resolution received 
only the vote of the man who introduced it. A 
little later the Marshal was directed to release the 
prisoner. 

Page Twelve 



For the next few years Mr. Edmunds devoted 
himself to his large law practice. Following the 
St. Albans Raid of 1864, when armed Confederates 
from Canada invaded Vermont and looted the 
banks of St. Albans, Mr. Edmunds was sent to Mon- 
treal by Secretary of State William H. Seward to 
obtain the extradition of the raiders on charges of 
murder and robbery. The Canadian courts, however, 
held that these crimies were acts of war. Mr. 
Ednnunds at once notified the State Department of 
the condition of affairs and recommended a strict 
blockade of the Canadian border. This policy was 
adopted and was strictly enforced. As a result the 
Canadian government adopted a more reasonable 
attitude, and reimbursed the banks for the money 
stolen by the raiders. 

Appointed Senator 

The death of Senator Solomon Foot, March 28, 
1866, necessitated the filling of the vacancy by the 
Governor, the H^onorable Paul Dillingham. At this 
time the Senate and President Johnson were at odds 
and the Republican majority needed every vote it 
could command in the Senate. Governor Dilling- 
ham had decided to fill the vacancy without delay, 
and on his return from attending Senator Foot's 
funeral at Rutland, he stopped at Burlington, April 3, 
and sent a note to Mr. Edmunds asking him to 
come to the American House. The two men had 

Page Thirteen 



served together in the Legislature and had been 
fellow members of the Judiciary Committee. When 
the message came Mr. Edmunds was at his homo 
in consultation with a Boston client, going over the 
papers and evidence in an important railroad case. 
Ke responded to the summons, however, and was 
offered the appointment as United States Senator. 
Although Mr. Edmunds knew that some of his 
friends might suggest his name, he had no expecta- 
tion that he would be appointed. He was reluctant 
to abandon his law practice, which was his only 
means of support, and his family was in New York 
for the winter, where one of his daughters was 
receiving medical treatment. The Governor, how- 
ever, was urgent not only that he should accept 
the appointment, but also that he should leave the 
next day for Washington. President Johnson had 
vetoed an important bill and the votes of both 
Vermont Senators were needed. 

With much solicitude as to how he should 
succeed, he accepted, and left the following day for 
the national capital. His credentials were presented 
by Senator Poland, and he took his seat on April 5, 
1866, at the age of thirty-eight years, being, with 
one exception, the youngest member of the body. 
On April 6, the Civil Rights bill, vetoed by President 
Johnson, came up in the Senate and was passed over 
the veto with not a vote to spare. Without the vote 
of Senator Edmunds it would have failed. He was 

Page Fourteen 



assigned, according to custom, to minor committee 
places, Pensions and Commerce being the commit- 
tees on which he began his work. 

One week after he entered the Senate he paid 
a brief but beautiful tribute to his predecessor at 
a memorial service held in honor of Senator Foot. On 
April 18, less than two weeks after he had taken his 
seat, a bill came up relating to the habeas corpus 
act, to which Senator Edmunds offered several 
amendments. His argument showed profound legal 
knowledge, a thorough mastery of the subject and 
great skill in the running fire of debate which fol- 
lowed. The late Benjamin F. Fifield of Montpelier 
informed the writer that this first speech of the 
new Vermont Senator created a deep and lasting 
impression in the Senate and at once gave him a 
high standing among his colleagues. In preparing 
for the case involving the Jericho shoemaker, to 
which previous reference has been made, Mr. 
Edmunds had familiarized himself thoroughly with 
the history of the habeas corpus privilege both in 
England and in America, and was well equipped for 
such a discussion. 

On April 25, only twenty days after he entered 
the Senate, Mr. Edmunds made a powerful and 
eloquent speech on a bill providing for the admission 
of Colorado as a State. It was with difficulty that 
two-thirds of the voting strength of the Senate was 
obtained on measures which must be passed over 

Page Fifteen 



President Johnson's veto, and the addition of two 
Senators to the Republican column would have been 
n^ost welcome. The State Constitution, however, 
contained a clause granting the right of suffrage 
only to white persons. Senator Edmunds opposed 
the passage of the bill on account of what he be- 
lieved to be this unjust provision, asserting that 
Vermont from: its foundation tolerated no distinc- 
tions of race or color in the granting of this right. 
As he concluded this speech Charles Sumner arose 
and said : "I cannot forbear returning my thanks to 
the Senator from Verm/)nt for the noble utterance 
that we have heard from him. He has reminded 
you of the true principles upon which you are to 
pass. He has held up before you the dignity of the 
occasion, and has rallied the Senate to its duty. I 
thank him, sir. His speech ought to produce an 
effect on his associates in this Chamber. It ought 
to remind them that there is a truth which cannot 
be put aside for any temporary expediency. I am 
grateful to the Senator for the speech he has made. 
I think the Senate will do well to sleep upon it 
tonight, to reflect upon it, and when they come here 
tomorrow to do their duty in maintaining those 
principles which he has so clearly advocated." Com- 
ing from such an eminent leader as Mr. Sumner, 
this was, indeed, a remarkable tribute to be paid 
to a young man, unknown outside his own State, 

Page Sixteen 



v'ho had served less than three weeks in that 
distinguished body. 

Rapid Rise in the Senate 

Probably in the entire history of the American 
Senate there have been few men, coming into that 
Chamber unknown to the country at large, who 
gained a position of influence as speedily as did 
George F. Edmunds. James G. Blaine in his 
"Twenty Years of Congress" alludes to this fact, 
and Mr. Blaine was by no means an ardent admirer or 
close friend of the Vermont Senator. Before he 
had served a year in the Senate he was taking such 
a prominent part in the debates that James Ford 
Rhodes, the eminent historian, quotes from his 
speeches in describing the period following the 
Civil War. In December, 1866, Senator Edmunds 
had charge of and explained the features of the 
Tenure of Office Bill. 

When arrangements were made for the trial 
of President Andrew Johnson before the Senate 
to answer to impeachment charges preferred by 
the House, Mr. Edmunds was made chairman of a 
committee to arrange rules of procedure in the 
Senate and, in conjunction with Chief Justice Sal- 
mon P. Chase of the United States Supreme Court, 
who was to preside at the trial, established the rules 
as they appear in the official records. It may be 
unnecessary again to call attention to the rapid 

Page Seventeen 



rise of Senator Edmunds to a position of leadership, 
but it is indeed remarkable that a man who had 
been in the Senate less than two years should be 
chosen for such a difficult and responsible task. 
Senator Edmunds and his colleague from Vermont 
v(;ted to impeach President Johnson. In a letter 
written in 1913, and printed in the "Century," Mr. 
Edmunds expressed the opinion that the failure 
to impeach President Johnson was due in part, at 
least, to a belief that Senator Wade of Ohio, Presi- 
dent pro tempore of the Senate, who would have 
succeeded to the Presidency, was not in all respects 
a proper man for the office, and that had Senator 
Frelinghuysen or Senator Harlan been President 
of the Senate, Mr. Johnson would have been re- 
moved. 

Before the electoral votes cast in 1868 were of- 
ficially counted. Senator Edmunds, on February 8, 
1869, introduced a resolution relating to the vote of 
the State of Georgia. In this connection Rhodes says : 
''Edmunds was one of the best lawyers in the Senate, 
and to settle the difficult question had proposed the 
plan which followed the precedents of 1821 and 1837 
in the cases of Missouri and Michigan." Rhodes 
frequently refers to the part taken by Senator 
Edmunds in the great debates of the Reconstruction 
period, mentioning his clear legal mind and his 
power of sarcasm. Writing of the Ku-Klux Bill, 
which was pending in 1871, this eminent historian 

Page Eighteen 



says: "The Senate Committee on the Judiciary was 
a strong body. Of the seven who composed it five 
were excellent lawyers, Trumbull (the chairman), 
Edmunds, Conkling, Carpenter and Thurman. As 
one surveys in retrospect the able men of the legal 
profession who have adorned the Senate, one would 
hesitate to affirm that, excepting Webster, Calhoun 
and Fessenden, greater adepts in constitutional law 
have argued in that arena of debate than Trum- 
bull, Edmunds and Thurman." Trumbull and Thur- 
man opposed the Ku-Klux Bill. Edmunds reported 
it from the Judiciary Committee and in closing 
the debate "made a powerful legal argument in its 
support." And this remarkable tribute is paid to 
a man who was still a new Senator as terms of 
service ordinarily are considered in that body. 

Later, Senator Edmunds proposed amend- 
ments to the Colorado Bill and to one admitting 
the Territory of Nebraska as a State, which pro- 
vided that a condition of admission should be 
suffrage rights which did not discriminate on 
account of race or color. In a private letter Senator 
Edmunds alluded to the fact that Senator Wade 
of Ohio lectured him rather roughly for the objec- 
tion he had raised, saying that this course was 
like shaking a red rag at a bull, and that there was 
no danger that slavery would be established by 
the people of Colorado. Mr. Edmunds insisted, 

Page Nineteen 



however, and aided by Senator Sumner and others 
secured the amendment he desired. 

Chairman of Judiciary Committee 

Senator Edmunds' committee assignments in a 
few years were made more desirable. As a result 
of his demonstrated legal ability he was soon 
assigned to the Committee on the Judiciary and a 
little later to the Committee on Appropriations. In 
1871 he was chairman of the Committee on Pensions 
and in 1872 was made chairman of the Committee 
on the Judiciary, a position which he held with great 
distinction during the remainder of his service in 
the Senate, with the exception of the period from 
1879 to 1881, when the Democrats were in control 
and his intimiate friend, Senator Thurman of Ohio, 
held the position. During the later years of his 
senatorial career he was a member of the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations. It is not often that a 
small State exerts such an influence in national 
affairs as did Vermont during the long period when 
the chairmanships of the powerful Committees on 
the Judiciary and on Finance were held, respectively, 
by Senator Edmunds and Senator Morrill. 

After the first two or three years of Senator 
Edmunds' term he was generally regarded as one 
of the leading members of the Senate and the "Con- 
gressional Record" shows that he participated 
actively and helpfully in the consideration of most 

Page Twenty 



of the important measures that came before that 
body. It is said that President Grant depended 
much upon him for advice. Rhodes says, however, 
that Edmunds and Sherman could not be classed as 
"thick and thin supporters" of the Administration; 
that they were "statesmen of a high order," and not 
mere politicians. Senators Edmunds and Morrill 
voted against one of Grant's pet measures, the annex- 
ation of San Domingo. 

In his "Men and Memories" John Russell Young, 
a famous journalist, said of President Grant; "The 
friends, however, whose advice had most weight 
with him in doing his country splendid service, 
were Hamilton Fish, Senator Edmunds of Vermont, 
and Mr. (George W.) Childs. I say this upon the 
authority of General Grant himself." 

Early in Grant's first term he offered Senator 
Edmunds the position of Judge of the Circuit Court 
for the second United States circuit, comprising 
Vermont, Connecticut and New York. He was 
strongly tempted to accept, as he liked the law, but 
knowing that he must live in New York City, he 
made some inquiries in regard to the rental of a 
small and mbdest house in a healthful part of the 
city and found that it would be $6,000, the exact 
amount of the salary he would receive. He decided, 
therefore, that he could not afford to accept the 
office. Later during President Grant's first term 
Senator Edmunds was asked to accept the post of 

Page Twenty-one 



United States Minister to Great Britain preceding 
the negotiations concerning the Alabama Claims, 
which he felt compelled to decline on account of the 
expense which acceptance of the position would 
compel him to assume. 

Resumption of Specie Payments 

Senator Edmunds was never a man who sought 
publicity for his achievements, and the credit which 
belonged to him for not a few important legislative 
acts has gone to others. As an illustration of this 
statement the Act providing for the resumption of 
specie payments, passed in 1875, may be cited. The 
story may be told best in Mr. Edmunds' own words, 
which he was kind enough to furnish the writer of 
this article for historical purposes, some years ago, 
and is as follows: "On the occasion of proceedings 
for the resumption of specie payments, resulting in 
the passage of the resumption bill of 1875, the East- 
ern and Western views in the Senate were greatly 
divided, the Western Senators feeling that resump- 
tion ought not to be established, thinking it could 
not be maintained. The Eastern Senators thought 
the experiment should be tried. The West also was 
badly tinctured with the double standard delusion of 
sixteen to one, and with a desire for free coinage of 
silver. Most of the Eastern Senators thought quite 
otherwise. At the request of three or four of the 
Eastern Senators, of whom I was one, a Republican 

Page Twenty-two 



confidential caucus was called, and met and appointed 
a committee of eleven, I think, to confer and, if 
possible, to propose a bill for some action on the 
subject that would satisfy all interested. I was a 
member of that committee, which for three weeks 
had almost daily, or, rather, nightly confidential 
consultations, and agreed upon a bill to provide for 
resumption. Drafting this bill was committed to a 
comm;ittee of two. Senator Logan of Illinois and 
myself, and we agreed upon a draft containing, I 
believe, precisely the words which appear in the 
Statutes of 1875 providing for resumption. We 
reported our draft to the committee, which agreed 
to it precisely as we had drawn it. The committee 
reported it to the caucus, which agreed to it, I believe, 
unanimously with the exception of Senator Morton 
of Indiana, who reserved leave to vote against it in 
the Senate. In fact, every Senator, stating that he 
wished to do so with frankness, had a perfect right 
to vote against the bill if he thought fit, without any 
complaint from the others. It was agreed in the 
caucus that if the bill was to be passed at all it was 
to be passed in the precise form, punctuation and all, 
in which the committee framed it. It was then 
directed by the caucus that this draft should be put 
into the hands of Senator Sherman, then chairman 
of the Finance Committee of the Senate, and that it 
should be reported from the Finance Committee in 
precisely that form, and that any amendment pro- 

Page Twenty-three 



dential election. At that time the Democrats con- 
trolled the House, and the Republicans the Senate. 
About the middle of December the House passed a 
resolution asking the Senate to unite in the appoint- 
nuent of a joint committee to prepare and report 
some measure, either legislative or constitutional, 
which should determine the result of the election 
by some tribunal of unquestioned authority, the 
decision of which would be generally accepted as 
final. The Senate by resolution referred the House 
proposal to a committee of seven, Mr. Edmunds 
being the chairman. On January 18, 1877, the Elec- 
toral Commission Bill was reported by Senator 
Edmunds, who explained the bill thoroughly and 
supported it in an able speech. Although the bill 
was opposed by Republican leaders like Blaine, 
Sherman and Morton, it was passed in the Senate 
by a vote of forty-seven to seventeen, and in the 
House by a vote of one hundred and ninety-one to 
eighty. This commission was composed of five 
Justices of the United States Supreme Court, five 
Senators and five Representatives, Mr. Edmunds 
being the first Senator named as a member of the 
Senate commission. His death removed the last 
member of that distinguished body. To quote again 
from Rhodes, the historian ; "There are few sublimer 
legislative achievements in our history than the 
Electoral Count bill, framed in the midst of intense 
political excitement and agreed to by thirteen out 

Page Twenty-five 



of the fourteen members of a bi-partisan committee. 
The almiost unanimous concurrence rendered certain 
the approval of Congress and the country. To the 
two chairmen, Edmunds and Payne, must be given 
the greatest credit." There has been much dispute 
concerning the legality of the election of Hayes, and 
many persons still insist that Tilden was lawfully 
chosen. Mr. Edmunds, however, had no doubt on 
this score, and writing in the "Century Magazine," 
thirty-six years after the commission rendered its 
decision, he said : "I believe that the time has come 
when, among fair-minded and intelligent Americans 
who will investigate the public and printed docu- 
ments and papers in existence on the subject, there 
will be few divergent opinions touching the justice 
and lawfulness of the election of Mr. Hayes. They 
will find that he was lawfully elected and instituted 
to the office by fair and lawful means." In 1887 
he secured the passage of an Electoral Count Act, 
which was designed to obviate the necessity of 
another Electoral Commission like that of 1877. 

During the latter part of the Hayes adminis- 
tration the Democrats controlled the Senate, and 
inserted in the army appropriation bill a provision 
which, in effect, would have deprived the President 
of his constitutional power in the execution of the 
laws. It was feared by some Republicans that the 
President would sign the bill. Believing that such 
provisions were entirely out of place, and that they 

Page Twenty-six 



would deprive the President of the means of carry- 
ing on the Government unless he would consent 
to the changing of important laws, Senator Edmunds 
made a speech in which he opposed the bill. It 
was passed by both Senate and House, but was 
vetoed by the President, who sent a note to the 
Vermont Senator, saying that his argument had 
convinced him (the President) that it was his duty 
to veto the bill. Later Senator Eaton of Connecti- 
cut, in a criticism of the veto message, said: "The 
hand was the hand of Esau Hayes, but the voice was 
the voice of Jacob Edmunds." 

During the Hayes administration Justice Hunt 
of the United States Supreme Court tendered his 
resignation, and the President asked Senator Ed- 
munds to accept the appointment to fill the vacancy. 
At this time the Democrats controlled the Senate. 
They had complained of the preponderance of Repub- 
lican members and had threatened to refuse the 
confirmation of any Republican, but it was intimated 
that they would waive the point in Mr. Edmunds' 
favor. Senator Roscoe Conkling was displeased, 
because he had not been consulted in advance, and 
induced Justice Hunt to withdraw his resignation. 

CThe National Conuention of 1880 

It will be remembered that in 1880 a determined 
effort was made in the Republican National Con- 
vention to nominate General Grant for a third 

Page Twenty-seven 



Presidential term. His principal opponent was 
James G. Blaine, although there were several other 
candidates. Vermont decided to present the name 
of Senator Edmunds, and this movement met with 
much favor in Massachusetts. The nominating 
speech was made by Frederick Billings of Vermont, 
and the nomination was seconded by John E. San- 
ford of Massachusetts. On the first ballot Edmunds 
had thirty-four votes; on the final, the thirty-sixth 
ballot, his name disappeared, and Vermont voted for 
Garfield, who became the party nominee. It was 
reported at the time that the Grant leaders were 
ready to go to Edmunds on the thirty-seventh ballot, 
but waited until it was too late. 

In 1883 President Arthur negotiated a canal 
treaty with Nicaragua, and the President and Sec- 
retary of State Frelinghuysen consulted Senator 
Edmunds in the drafting of the treaty. It was 
reported from the Foreign Relations Committee by 
Senator Edmunds, who had learned that more than 
three-fourths of the Senate were in favor of its 
ratification. It was not acted upon until after 
President Cleveland's election, and when it came up 
at the December session several Democratic Senators 
had changed their attitude, and the treaty lacked 
two or three votes of the number required to ratify 
it. A reconsideration v/as moved by Senator 
Edmunds, and it went back to the calendar, where 

Page Twenty-eight 



it remained until after President Cleveland's inau- 
guration, when it was withdrawn. 

Senator Edmunds was the author of the 
Edmunds Act of 1882 for the suppression of 
polygamy in Utah, and of an Act passed in 1887 
dealing with the same subject. He was also inter- 
ested in the proposal to establish a National Uni- 
versity at Washington. 

Offered Supreme Court Judgeship 

During the Arthur Administration another 
vacancy occurred on the Supreme Court bench, and 
the President sent the nomination by Secretary 
of State Frelinghuysen to Senator Edmunds, urging 
him to accept it ; but the serious illness of a member 
of his family, which he felt might necessitate his 
leaving Washington for a long time, made it seem 
best to decline the honor. The Judges of the court, 
knowing the situation, kindly offered to perform 
his duties during his enforced absence, but the 
Senator did not feel that he ought to accept under 
the circumstances. 

Early in 1884 Senator Edmunds proposed that 
General Grant be placed upon the retired list of 
the army with the rank and full pay of the position 
which he resigned when he became President, a 
proposal which met with great favor throughout 
the country. 

Page Twenty-nine 



During the latter part of the Arthur Adminis- 
tration Senator Edmunds was President pro tempore 
of the Senate and acting Vice President of the 
United States. 

cThe National Conoention of 1884 

As the time for the Republican National Con- 
vention of 1884 approached, it appeared that the 
principal candidates would be President Arthur and 
James G. Blaine. There were many persons, how- 
ever, including some of the Independents, who were 
not favorable to either of these men. It became 
evident that the movement to nominate Senator 
Edmunds would be more formidable than it was in 
1880. This feeling was voiced by "Harper's Weekly" 
on March 1, 1884, when it declared that Edmunds 
would be more acceptable than Arthur to a "large 
and resolute body of independent Republican voters," 
and, therefore, a stronger candidate. This paper 
said; "We have no doubt that Mr. Edmunds is at 
this time the sober preference of the party as an 
inflexible Republican of spotless personal character, 
of unquestionable political record, of conceded ability, 
and of prolonged public experience, who, without 
trimming or demagoguery, is identified with no fac- 
tion, and while sure to command the full party 
vote, would be entirely acceptable to independent 
voters." 

The civil service reform element was strongly 

Page Thirty 



in favor of Mr. Edmunds' nomination, and voicing 
this desire "Harper's Weekly" said that in 1871 
"when the first so-called Civil Service Commission 
met at Washington, Mr. Edmunds was the only 
Senator who seemed to take a hearty and intelli- 
gent interest in the question, or who regarded it as 
other than a rather foolish party dodge in view of 
the Liberal disaffection of that year. On the 14tb 
of December, 1871, he introduced a bill embodying 
the reform views, and which was substantially 
the first bill introduced by Mr. Pendleton four years 
ago (in 1880). This bill Mr. Edmunds advocated 
in an admirable speech .... He is also the author 
of the law prohibiting political assessments, which 
is substantially that of Senator Hawley, which was 
incorporated in the reform bill as it passed. There 
is, in fact, no member of Congress and no conspicu- 
ous public man in the country who has been longer 
or more steadfastly the friend of the reform sys- 
tem than Senator Edmunds." 

The Vermont Republican State Convention met 
at Montpelier, April 30, 1884, and made the follow- 
ing declaration: "Resolved, That we present to the 
Republicans of the Union George F. Edmunds as 
the embodiment of these principles (enumerated 
in the platform), as the vigilant defender and rep- 
resentative of what is best in the Republican faith, 
as one whose high and unselfish public service has 
made him the possession of the country rather than 

Page Thirty-one 



of any State or section, and one whose aggressive 
integrity, large ability, sagacious statesmanship and 
unblemished record fit him for the chief magistracy, 
and one whose nomination will be a sure promise 
and sign of success." The Vermont delegation was 
composed of some of the State's most eminent men, 
headed by Ex-Governor John Gregory Smith as 
chairman and including Redfield Proctor, Frederick 
Billings and B. F. Fifield. They were instructed to 
vote for Mr. Edmunds "as long as his name shall 
be before the National Convention, and to use all 
honorable means to secure his nomination." 

Most of the Massachusetts delegates were for 
Edmunds, and owing to a deadlock in the New York 
Convention between the followers of Blaine and 
Arthur, the friends of the President threw their 
strength to the Vermont Senator, and Edmunds 
delegates-at-large were elected to represent the 
Empire State. They included Theodore Roosevelt, 
then only twenty-five years old and just entering 
upon his long and brilliant public career, George 
William Curtis, the well-known reformer and editor, 
and President Andrew D. White of Cornell Univer- 
sity. About two weeks before the assembling of 
the National Convention, Mr. Roosevelt and one of 
his fellow delegates invited all the Edmunds dele- 
gates from New England and New York to meet in 
New York City. About twenty men attended this 
conference, and plans were outlined after a general 

Page Thirty-two 



discussion of the political situation. Several Ver- 
monters attended, including Redfield Proctor, B. F. 
Fifield, B. D. Harris of Brattleboro, Henry Ballard of 
Burlington and T. C. Fletcher of St. Johnsbury. 
A canvass made by the New York "Herald" about 
this time showed that the Republican members of 
the New York Legislature expressed their Presiden- 
tial preferences as follows: Senator Edmunds, six; 
Arthur, three ; Blaine, two ; one each for John Sher- 
man, General Sherman and Senator Hawley; non- 
committal, four. In the Assembly, Edmunds, twenty- 
six ; Blaine, ten ; Arthur, seven ; Harrison, one. The 
Boston "Advertiser's" canvass of the prominent 
Massachusetts Republicans showed the following 
vote: Edmunds, three hundred and fifty-nine; 
Arthur, seventy -three ; Blaine, twenty-five. "Har- 
per's Weekly" declared: "Mr. Edmunds' strength 
is undeniable. He unites eminent public ability and 
service with the greatest availability — a very un- 
usual combination in a Presidential candidate." 

Senator Edmunds himself was not ambitious to 
receive this honor. In a letter to Congressman 
William Walter Phelps of New Jersey, an ardent 
Blaine supporter, the Senator denied certain charges 
made against him and took occasion to say that "I 
am neither willing nor desirous to be either candi- 
date or President, which everybody who has spoken 
to me or written to me knows." To personal friends 
he declared that he knew too much of the cares 

Page Thirty-three 



and trials of a President to desire the office, and that 
if he were elected he believed it would kill him. 

The Convention met at Chicago, June 3, 1884. 
President Andrew D. White has left the following 
bit of description: "Arrived at Chicago, June 2, 
1884. I found the political caldron seething and 
bubbling. Various candidates were earnestly sup- 
ported, and foremost of all, President Arthur and 
Mr. Blaine. The Independent delegates, led by 
Theodore Roosevelt and George Wiliam Curtis, and 
the Massachusetts delegation, headed by Governor 
Long, Senator Hoar and Henry Cabot Lodge, de- 
cided to support Senator Edmunds of Vermont. No 
man stood higher than he for integrity as well as 
for statesmanlike qualities and legal abilities; no 
one had more thoroughly the respect of thinking 
men from one end of the country to the other." 
According to the Convention report printed by the 
"New York Times," nearly everybody soon learned 
to know Theodore Roosevelt, "for there is not a 
State headquarters which he has not visited in his 
canvass for Edmunds, and scarce an influential dele- 
gate with whom he has not conversed in a straight- 
forward, manly way." 

The names of candidates were presented on 
the evening of the third day of the Convention. 
The name of Edmunds was not reached until late 
at night, when the delegates were weary, but the 
presentation by Governor John D. Long of Massa- 

Page Thirty-four 



chusetts and the seconding speech by George 
Williana Curtis were so eloquent and forceful that 
they commanded the close attention of the great 
assemblage and won the highest praise. In his 
address Governor Long appealed "from the excite- 
ment of this vast concourse to the afterthought of 
the firesides of the people." In presenting his can- 
didate he declared that his name "will carry over all 
the land a grateful feeling of serenity and security, 
like the benignant promise of a perfect day in June. 
It will be as wholesome and refreshing as the Green 
Mountains of the native State of him who bears it. 
Their summits tower not higher than his worth; 
their foundations are not firmer than his convictions 
and truth ; the green and prolific slopes that grow 
great harvests at their feet are not richer than the 
fruitage of his long and lofty labors in the service 
of his country. Honest and capable, unexception- 
able and fit, the best and the most available, the 
very staunchest of the old Republican guard, the 
most unflinching of American patriots, with the 
kindly heart of a courteous gentleman, as well as the 
robust and rugged mind of a great statesman, yet 
is he not more sternly just in the halls of Congress 
than tender in that sanctuary of the American 
heart — the American home * * * * Gentlemen, I 
nominate as the Republican candidate for the next 
President of the United States, the Honorable — aye ! 
the Honorable George F. Edmunds of Vermont." 

Page Thirty-five 



In closing his brilliant seconding speech, George 
William Curtis said: "Mr. President, in the begin- 
ning of the Revolution a Green Mountain Boy- 
crossed Lake Champlain and, followed by his brave 
comrades, climbed the sheer precipice, and in the 
name of the Great Jehovah and of the Continental 
Congress, demanded and received the surrender of 
British Ticonderoga. There is another Green Moun- 
tain Boy; let us make him our captain in the great 
contest upon which we enter; make him our cap- 
tain of the host, the vast host of loyal followers, 
as indeed, followers we shall be, doubtless, of any 
man who bears the banner of the Republican party, 
and in the name of the Great Jehovah and of the 
Republican party, he will demand and receive the sur- 
render of the Democratic party. His name is in your 
hearts before it leaves my lips. Incorruptible, unas- 
sailable, a Republican whom every Republican trusts 
to the utmost; whom every Democrat respects with 
all his heart ; a candidate who will make every Repub- 
lican State surer, every Democratic State uneasy, and 
every doubtful State Republican, and who will awake 
all the old conquering Republican enthusiasm of 
principle and character. This is the candidate whose 
name has been presented to us by the old Bay State ; 
and the candidate whose nomination on behalf of 
every American who believes that political honesty 
is the best political policy, I proudly second in repeat- 
ing the name of George F. Edmunds of Vermont." 

Page Thirty-six 



President Andrew D. White's estimate of these 
nominating speeches is quoted from his reminis- 
cences as follows: "The various candidates were 
presented by prominent speakers, and most of the 
speeches were thoroughly good; but unquestionably 
the best, from an oratorical point of view, was made 
in the nomination of Mr. Edmunds by Governor 
Long of Massachusetts. Both as to matter and man- 
ner it was perfection ; was felt to be so by the Con- 
vention; and was sincerely applauded even by the 
majority of those who intended to vote for Mr. 
Blaine." 

The balloting began on the morning of the 
fourth day, Edmunds receiving ninety-three votes 
on the first ballot, distributed among the following 
fourteen States; Arkansas, Indiana, Massachu- 
setts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hamp- 
shire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode 
Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Montana. On the fourth 
and last ballot, on which Blaine was nominated, 
Edmunds received forty-one votes, distributed 
among seven States; Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South 
Carolina and Vermont. 

The defeat of Mr. Blaine by a very narrow 
margin is part of the history of the United States. 
That Senator Edmunds would have held the strong 
Independent vote which refused to support Mr. 
Blaine is beyond question, and it is probable that 

Page Thirty-seven 



had Edmunds been nominated he would have been 
elected. He was handicapped by coming from a 
small State that was more surely Republican than 
any other in the Union. Nature had not endowed 
him, with those qualities of personal magnetism and 
cordial good fellowship which made Mr. Blaine the 
most popular of American political leaders with the 
exception of Henry Clay and Theodore Roosevelt. 
But so far as intellectual and legal ability, experi- 
ence, statesmanship and high character are con- 
cerned, he was ideally equipped for the Presidency 
and excelled in those qualities most of the men who 
have held that high office. Senator Edmunds did 
not expect to receive the Republican nomination, 
and his defeat in the Convention probably came as 
a relief rather than a disappointment. 

When Mr. Cleveland was President his Admin- 
istration became engaged in a controversy with the 
Senate over the matter of removals from office, in 
which Senator Edmunds, as the leader of the Repub- 
lican majority, was prominent. 

In 1885, Mr. Edmunds was called to England to 
testify before the Committee of Privileges of the 
House of Lords concerning the law of the Province of 
New York in the year 1770 on the subject of mar- 
riage, the case being a dispute over a peerage title. 
The remainder of the summer was spent in studying 
the cathedrals of Great Britain. 

Within the reasonable limits of a magazine 

Page Thirty-eight 



article one can not tell all the important legislation 
with which Senator Edmunds was identified during 
this period, because it would include practically a 
history of the proceedings of the Senate for a quarter 
of a century. When Vice-President Hendricks died, 
Senator Edmunds advised President Cleveland not 
to leave Washington to attend the funeral at Indian- 
apolis owing to some uncertainty concerning the 
matter of the Presidential succession. 

It is now known that the fundamental sections 
of the Anti-Trust law, which bears Senator Sher- 
man's name, were written by Senator Edmunds. 
That portion of the Senate report upon the Clayton- 
Bulwer treaty relating to the Isthmian Canal, so far 
as it concerned negotiations with Great Britain, was 
prepared by Senator Edmunds. 

Wearied with twenty-five years of hard work. 
Senator Edmunds resigned his seat in the Senate 
in the spring of 1891, the resignation to take effect 
in the fall of that year. He had been returned term 
after term, practically without opposition, and there 
is no reason to suppose that he could not have re- 
tained his seat as long as he desired. Had he 
remained in the Senate until his age was as great 
as that of his colleague. Senator Morrill, he might 
have completed fifty years of service in that body. 
Commenting on his retirement from public life, 
"Harper's Weekly" said: "The retirement of a 
Senator of such integrity, grasp, experience, and 

Page Thirty-nine 



simplicity of taste and character impoverishes public 

life Were all his colleagues whom he salutes 

in farewell of the same quality with himself, the 
Senate would still deserve Chatham's eulogy of the 
Continental Congress." 

After his retirement from the Senate, Mr. 
Edmunds was appointed a member of the Monetary 
Commission authorized by the Bankers' Convention 
held at Indianapolis, and was elected its chairman. 
This committee made a prolonged and careful inves- 
tigation of the currency of the country, its findings 
being embodied in a report. Later President Cleve- 
land, during his second term, offered Mr. Edmunds 
an appointment on the Interstate Waterways Com- 
mission, which was declined, not for lack of interest 
in the subject, but for the same reason that impelled 
his resignation from the Senate. 

The career of Mr. Edmunds as a lawyer might 
properly be considered as the subject of an extended 
article, but this must be left for the consideration 
of a member of the Bar. His professional labors 
did not cease when he went to the Senate. At that 
time public opinion did not condemn the practice of 
law by Senators and Congressmen, and no person 
could fairly accuse Mr. Edmunds of allowing his 
course in the Senate to be influenced by his activity 
as a lawyer. His first case in the United States 
Supreme Court was a confiscation case, argued in 
3867 or 1868, in which a former member of that 

Page Forty 



Court, Benjamin R. Curtis, appeared as the opposing 
counsel, contending against the vaHdity of the confis- 
cation of railroad stocks as Confederate property. 
Senator Edmunds upheld the act and the proceedings 
under it, and won the case. Thereafter, until 1896 or 
1897, he argued important cases in the Supreme 
Court and in the United States Courts at New Or- 
leans, St. Louis, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, 
Macon, Georgia, and elsewhere. In 1895, with Joseph 
H. Choate, he argued against the constitutionality of 
the Income Tax Act before the United States 
Supreme Court, and won the case. 

Senator Edmunds was a loyal and earnest mem- 
ber of the Episcopal Church, serving it faithfully 
in many ways, and several times acting as a Vermont 
delegate to the Triennial Convention. His firm 
belief in the great fundamental principles of Chris- 
tianity was a powerful influence in his life, which 
was characterized by the strictest integrity in politi- 
cal as well as in business affairs. 

The degree of A. M. was conferred upon him 
by the University of Vermont in 1855, and the 
degree of LL.D. was conferred by the following 
institutions : Middlebury College, 1869 ; University 
of Vermont, 1879 ; Trinity College, 1887 ; Dartmouth 
College, 1890. In 1896, Princeton University intended 
to confer upon him the degree of LL.D. at the 
Sesqui-Centennial exercises, but he was unable to be 
present. 

Page Forty-one 



Soon after his retirement, Mr. Edmunds made 
his home in Philadelphia, and later in Pasadena, 
California, not because of any lack of loyalty to 
Vermont, but rather on account of his own health 
and that of his family. From boyhood Mr. Edmunds 
had been obliged to fight a tendency to bronchial 
and lung trouble, and the New England winters 
were a menace to his health. To intimate any lack 
of loyalty to or affection for Vermont on his part, 
is to do his memory a cruel injustice. No man was 
prouder of the State than he, and no man has 
brought it greater honor. 

During all the years of his retirement, he main- 
tained a keen interest in public affairs, and from 
time to time he contributed interviews on great 
public questions which were extremely valuable. 
Although he lived to a great age, his splendid 
intellect was not dimlned, and his comments on the 
sinking of the Lusitania and the proper attitude of 
this country towards Germany during the World 
War were characterized by a robust Americanism 
that was refreshing to his countrymen. Unques- 
tionably he was one of the greatest of American 
Senators, and for many years probably was consid- 
ered the ablest man in the upper branch of Congress. 
His services constitute no small part of the honor- 
able record of Vermont in Congress, and as long as 
the Green Mountain commonwealth exists it will do 

Page Forty-two 



well to cherish the memory of this great American 
statesman. 

The funeral of Senator Edmunds was held at 
St. Paul's Church, Burlington, on March 11, 1919, 
and the burial was in the family lot in Green Mount 
Cemetery at a point overlooking the beautiful 
Winooski valley beyond which lie the Vermont 
mountains he loved so well. 



Page Forty-three 



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